Wildlife Garden

The Buddleia bush that I planted in our wildlife corner last year is really blooming!  So much in fact that we can no longer see the lady bird house, the spider web frame or the water feature!

The small silvery buddleia bush in 2011...

And now in 2012!

 It has brought lots of beautiful insects into the garden and the children have enjoyed looking at them as much as I have enjoyed photographing them.

We've had butterflies of all varieties and have had fun identifying them on the UK Butterfly website.  We found out they were Small Whites, Tortoiseshell's and my favourite, the Peacock Butterfly.

 I was also extremely surprised to find a dried up chrysalis on a branch of the buddleia.  I wish I could have seen the butterfly emerge.  I think I will definately have to purchase a Butterfly Garden Kit by Folk Lore next year.

We also have had lots of snails because of all the rain.  The children decided to give some of them a lettuce leaf to munch on and we observed them as they slithered and left a trail.  We could see their eyes and the children said the biggest one's shell was hard and warm.